Edited by literary magician Neil Gaiman and "master anthologist" (Booklist) Al Sarrantonio, Stories is a deliciously varied gumbo of 27 tales that reinvigorates and expands the boundaries of imaginative fiction. "We wanted to read stories that used a lightning-flash of magic as a way of showing us something we have already seen a thousand times as if we had never seen it at all," notes Gaiman in the introduction. Here you will find such flashes from Peter Straub and Chuck Palahniuk, Roddy Doyle and Diana Wynne Jones, Stewart O'Nan and Joyce Carol Oates, Walter Mosley and Jodi Picoult, and the volume's editors, among others.

"An ambitious anthology with a pleasing mix of modes and moods. Stories has a little something for everyone who appreciates the possibilities of short fiction."—SFChronicle

"Stories is the perfect dark counterbalance to the smells of suntan lotion and barbecue smoke waiting for you this summer."—LATimes

"If you can't find something to like from [this book's] roster, you really need a vacation."—St. Petersburg Times